1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus and an information processing method thereof and, more particularly, to a technique of calculating a consumed level for an image forming apparatus having a display unit and capable of communicating with a monitoring device for monitoring a plurality of image forming apparatuses.
2. Description of the Related Art
A mechanism is conventionally known, which detects a toner remaining amount in, e.g., a copying machine and outputs the detection result to the display unit of the copying machine or a computer in a remote site.
Japanese Patent Laid-open No. 10-032659 discloses a mechanism which places an order for a new consumable upon determining that it is going to run out, based on a detected remaining amount.
In the conventional technique, however, since calculation of the consumed levels of parts represented by consumables such as a toner is executed in the image forming apparatus main body, the accuracy is poor.